However. I got this from my friend Sam Waylen yesterday, he was going to send it to the press:

I note with mischievous glee the legal dispute taking place between these two bands.

With glee because I believe that the fact is, the arpeggiated chord sequence in question pre-dates BOTH bands.

Veteran Jazz fans may remember that in the late Fifties, there was a version of the spiritual "Motherless Child" in which the backing guitarist featured this four chord sequence behind the vocals, which Spirit themselves may be said to have, at least unwittingly, borrowed the idea from.

I doubt whether "Jazzers" have been following this argument between a Heavy Metal band and a Psychedelic Rock band, but I would reckon that if you offered this information to them, there would be a fair few who, after giving either recording the most cursory appraisal could place the identity of the guitarist, the singer, and too, more essentially, for legal purposes the date of, what I am asserting, may well be the first recording of these chords in the non-Classical genre.

Anyone know what version of "Motherless Child" he remembers? Obviously not Louis Armstrong's.

Spirit toured with Led Zeppelin and performed "Taurus" live, some years before "Stairway" was recorded. Nor just the opening Am figure but the whole sound and feel of that intro is remarkably similar. Draw your own conclusions.

..oddly enough.. pure coincidence.. earlier in the week I was humming an old pre war standard - maybe from one of the 1930s hollywood movies.. and the opening lines fitted very comfortably over the intro to "stairway"..